Bar Refaeli Israel ad controversy: Supermodel responds on Twitter

Supermodel
Bar Refaeli is under fire from the defense forces in her home country of Israel after a controversial ad she filmed for the Israeli Foreign Ministry (video above) -- and no, it's not because she
sucks face with a nerd.

Refaeli is the new face of an ad by the Israeli Foreign Ministry that kicks off a public relations campaign trumpeting Israel's cutting-edge technologies. But the Israel Defense Forces is not happy about it.

A spokesperson for the Defense Forces says in a statement, "The choice of a representative who did not serve in the military as an official presenter on behalf of Israel, conveys the message that we ignore and forgive evasion of enlistment, and encourages identification, among youths of both sexes, with the success of those who did not enlist."

In Israel, there is a compulsory military draft once a citizen reaches the age of 18. Refaeli stated at the time she did not want her military service to interrupt her modeling career. When she was pressed by the system to enlist, she used a loophole that allows married women to get out of their service by marrying a family friend in 2007. She filed for divorce after receiving her exemption.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry says in response to the Defense Forces' objections: "Bar Refaeli ... is considered one of the most beautiful women in the world and she is widely recognized as Israeli. There is no reason to dredge up the past when we are dealing with a public diplomacy campaign of this kind."

And Refaeli has taken to Twitter about the controversy,
writing on March 18 (translated from Hebrew), "You can use the clip for the Foreign Ministry or drop it, but my Instagram feed has more readers than Israel's most popular newspaper!"